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The United States men’s national team comfortably defeated Oman 4-0 Tuesday night at Allianz Field in Saint Paul, Minnesota, during an international friendly game.
USMNT fans will widely agree and say it was an alright performance from the team and a slight improvement from Saturday’s 3-0 win vs. Uzbekistan.
Let’s get into the highlights and takeaways.
USMNT vs Oman highlights and 3 takeaways
The first half was relatively quiet with Folarin Balogun opening the scoring in the 13th minute when he was in the right place at the right time following a spilled Sergiño Dest strike.
Folarin Balogun pounces to score his second USMNT goal
Watch the game live on TNT pic.twitter.com/lsn8u2P6mO— B/R Football (@brfootball) September 13, 2023
The USMNT went into the half with a 1-0 lead, and it honestly looked like more of the same from Saturday’s friendly.
Balogun and Christian Pulisic, who was incredibly quiet in the first half, were subbed out at the half for Ricardo Pepi and Brenden Aaronnson. Both halftime substitutes would find the back of the net in the second 45.
Brenden Aarnsn
Watch the game live on TNT pic.twitter.com/1KKEJZct7O— B/R Football (@brfootball) September 13, 2023
Ricardo Pepi.
Another oneWatch the game live on TNT pic.twitter.com/btXo6JB7dd
— B/R Football (@brfootball) September 13, 2023
An own goal put a cherry on top of the victory as a Kevin Paredes cross was turned into goal.
80'—Kevin Paredes subs on to make his USMNT debut
81'—Paredes forces an own goal— B/R Football (@brfootball) September 13, 2023
Overall, the second half looked better however there were still a plethora of moments where the finish or the final ball was just a little bit off for the Americans.
Gregg Berhalter loves crosses
Good lord, Berhalter likes seeing crosses more than an avid Christian’s home décor. If fans didn’t know better, they would think that the USMNT head coach has a whiteboard in the locker room that just reads “GAME PLAN: CROSS THE BALL.”
Aaronson did hint that crossing the ball into the box was on Berhalter’s wish list for things to work on during this international window.
it’s all gregg so no one attack brenden but I had to share what he said about new things ggg is trying pic.twitter.com/wv0ZwRqg96
— ًًً (@_captainpulisic) September 12, 2023
It gets tiring to watch crosses with no chance of reaching anyone all game long. Half of the goals the U.S. scored on Tuesday weren’t even crosses.
The creativity that fans saw from this team during the Concacaf Nations League seems to have been traded for see how many crosses can be recorded in a 90-minute span.
Weston McKennie’s distribution was looking gooooooood
One compliment that need to be given out was Weston McKennie’s distribution. He had a solid game despite a blown chance in the 85th minute when Pepi played Wes right in front of goal, and he skewed it wide.
On the other hand, he looked lively in the midfield and repeatedly delivered beautiful switches of the field. It was one of those long diagonal balls that helped set up the first goal as McKennie found Timothy Weah who dumped the ball off to Dest.
Some of these passes from Weston McKennie
— USMNT Only (@usmntonly) September 13, 2023
The USMNT still can’t sell out MLS stadiums
My one big and brutal takeaway from this September international window is that the USMNT still doesn’t have a large draw. The best of the best competed for the national team IN THE U.S. and still couldn’t bring in more than 20,000 fans.
The USMNT “A-team” only plays a handful of games in the country each year and there’s a one-in-five chance that it will be in Ohio anyway. Having the USMNT come to your hometown will only happen a handful of times and to see unfilled MLS stadiums is a shame.
It’s 2023 and the #USMNT A-Team still can’t sell out stadiums :/ pic.twitter.com/wKZSFmKaIg
— David Moore (@RunDavidMoore) September 9, 2023
Part 2 in Minnesota. pic.twitter.com/YEKft2fg8J
— David Moore (@RunDavidMoore) September 13, 2023
The ticket pricing isn’t ideal, but $50 for a USMNT ticket isn’t outrageous either. People will pay $100 to sit in the nosebleeds for an NFL game (I looked up the Denver Broncos vs. Washington Commanders as an example) yet won’t come out to see the U.S. play in a decent seat for half that price.
I understand that it’s a meaningless friendly against an unknown opponent, but goly that was tough to see two USMNT games in a row where the tops of the stadiums were basically empty.
Hopefully there will be a larger turnout next month when the U.S. plays Germany in East Hartford, Connecticut, on Oct. 14 and at Geodis Park in Nashville, Tennessee, when the USMNT hosts Ghana.
Bonus takeaway
Mexico tied Uzbekistan 3-3 on Saturday. Not really a takeaway, just really funny.
⚽️ ¡Goooool de Uzbekistán!
⚽️ ¡Goooool de Uzbekistán!
⚽️ ¡Goooool de Uzbekistán!Shukurov sorprende con disparo a primer poste de Ochoa ¡Se volvió a empatar el partido! EN VIVO por @Univision y TUDN
https://t.co/bFLqsfepRa #SiYoFueraElJimmy pic.twitter.com/KPc0vEzvuZ
— TUDN USA (@TUDNUSA) September 13, 2023
